Not My Momma
by The Blunt Child
Summary: Just why is Asuka second child to Rei Ayanami? AU. High-school. Shoujo-ai.


Disclaimer: NGE not mine.

Yes, they will be out of character, because this show came out in 1997. I was probably too young to really understand most of it as well.

Alternate Universe. All-girls (I'm SUCKER for this, and it's actually quite common) private boarding school in Japan. Second year of high-school, the equivalent of 11th grade. Asuka's past is relatively unchanged from the original. No robots, sorry; I can't write action. Everyone else will have a fittingly contrived past.

-.-

Chapter I of ?

The room was a little _too_ comfortable. Asuka had been familiar with the luxurious and extravagant in life, but this room permeated coziness, a home. It was well-furnished, the temperature was warm for her tastes, and the neatness had the look of trying to be clutter. It was obviously meant to keep students at ease, but Asuka's increasing visits were a clear sign of her unease.

"Asuka-san," said Dr. Akagi, Ritsuko, "you look unhappy with me, and I haven't even said anything."

"That's because I hate being here, and you look at me like _that_."

Ritsuko brought a hand to her mouth to subdue a chuckle, "Excuse me," Ritsuko eyed the redhead with mirth. "You know I'm not laughing at you. You just always amaze me with your candidness. I look at you with nothing but respect and admiration. Not many students are brave enough to say what they mean, you know?"

"Doc, don't do that. Don't turn everything I say into something positive, because it doesn't make it true. Can we just cut to it? Why am I here for the second time this week?" Asuka practically snarled.

"Alright, Asuka, but I'm always sincere with you. It would be fruitless to be otherwise," Ritsuko spoke with a professional warmth, something necessary for her current occupation as resident counselor of NERV, an international boarding high-school for girls. "Your homeroom teacher, Professor Katsuragi, has noticed your recent agitation and withdrawal in classes. Your grades are impressive as always, but your work seems to be a grounds for creative…hostility. Has there been a recent stressor?"

"Lord, does this school get a kick out of scrutinizing my every move? I'd like to think it was due to my excellent student record, but I'd be flattering myself. You have my file right in front of you, doc. What would be the consequences if I snatched that from you—what with my faster, youthful reflexes—and ripped it to bits? I'm not going to off myself or anyone else for that matter." _I'm not an experiment_, Asuka thought bitterly to herself. _I'm nothing like mo—_

"Ah . . . this," Ritsuko slid the manila folder across the table, closer to the redhead, "you can do whatever you want with it. Simply protocol. However, the administrative board won't agree with me, and God knows I've fought with them enough last term; I'll let you fight your own battle there. But Asuka, I don't read you. I feel you—

"Whoa doc. Your girlfriend is right next door," Asuka jerked a thumb to the adjacent room. Their current room exited to the nurse's office, headed by Maya Ibuki. Asuka inwardly grimaced at how a room of cold sterility and this room of hot invasiveness could exist next to one another. She hated both. As for the two women in the rooms, she grudgingly admitted to herself that they were passable. Bearable. Maybe likeable.

Ritsuko clinically reigned in her schoolgirl blush, not taking Asuka's many baits in this direction. "I should really forego using young people's jargon. Those tv movies and their brainwashing, 'I feel ya, bro.' It's just not for me," Ritsuko smiled at herself, pleased that she averted the bomb. Unfortunately, but maybe successfully in a subtly strategic way, she forgot to address the problem at hand.

"What school puts the nurse's office and counselor's room next to each other? Isn't it sort of demeaning to imply that I'm sick, disturbed?" Asuka steered the conversation. She liked to think she was in control.

"Health doesn't stop at the body. I want to see you be the best, Asuka. I'm not going to humble you by saying 'your best,' because I know that your best simply _is_ the best." This was the magic of the blonde doctor. She was real. She was astoundingly effective at tapping the most sensitive and egocentric psyches of the high-school female—lulling them into innocent conversations and then inadvertently pouncing—and even Asuka Langley Soryu struggled to be an exception. "You're going to evade me into the lunch hour, so I'll just be forward. Your homeroom attendance sheet has been recently updated."

"Hm, I hadn't noticed," Asuka tried blithely.

"In Germany, that may be the case. But you've been in Tokyo long enough to realize that new students are magnified in this culture," Ritsuko said reasonably.

"I've only been here for a year, my freshmen entrance. It would take a sophisticated level of intelligence to absorb all the customs of a new country. What new label will I gain this time from our lovely sessions?—Worldly prodigy?" Asuka hissed.

"You know I'm not fond of labels, Asuka, and I won't praise you this time. No, I don't think of you as a prodigy—

"Good, because those people are pariahs, freaks, isolated from society—

"I don't share your view." Ritsuko didn't really think Asuka meant her words either. The redhead tended to lose sight of her integrity when she became angry, and Ritsuko adored the rare times she witnessed Asuka joyful. It was like a storybook festival, bright and lavish. "Someone else may display some characteristics of a prodigy—new transfer student, Rei Ayanami." This earned a glare from the redhead.

". . . So you think she's better than me too! ?" Asuka blurted.

"Goodness, who thinks she's better than you?" Ritsuko did well to keep up with Asuka's razor speed.

"Definitely not ME!" Asuka snapped.

Check. She had revealed enough. Enough for Dr. Akagi to begin to understand the situation.

The blonde doctor stayed silent for a while to allow the ferocity of Asuka's last outburst to dissipate.

". . .Then who, Asuka? Who could possibly think that?" Ritsuko asked gently.

"Everyone. The whole school. Professor Katsuragi. Principal Ikari. Hikari . . . you."

"No, Asu—

"I'm not number one anymore, okay? I'm not first rank. I used to be. But I guess I'm never good enough in the end." It was almost a whimper, the whine of a young girl.

"I thin—

"She never talks, but her scores are better than mine," Asuka cut the good doctor off again. "Her papers have no marks, only the clean hundred." There were traces of fear felt. "God, she rips my time in track." A spark of anger, sharp and painful. "They say . . . she sings like an angel, a bloody angel," Asuka's voice dropped so soft and low at this point. Ritsuko scooted forward in her seat and leaned over her desk to hear better. "She's first; I'm second. There is nothing after first."

"You can't—

"I'm like a forgotten child."

It was exactly what Dr. Akagi expected to hear, but even her trained heart couldn't help breaking from the girl's admission.

-.-

Well? Care to see Asuka and Rei interact? It will be enduring, that's certain. Or is this better as a oneshot?


End file.
